History
- In 959 a settlement by the Este river is first recorded. The farmer colony called "Bouchstadon" is given to the cloister of Magdeburg. Soon a wharf, "Hude", is established.
- In 1135 the settlement is called "Buchstadihude" referring to the successful quay.
- In 1180 the Duchy of Saxony, to which "Buchstadihude" belonged, is conquered and dissolved. Buxtehude becomes part of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, newly upgraded to imperial immediacy it became one of the many successor states of the Duchy of Saxony. Nevertheless in religious respect, Buxtehude remained a part of the Diocese of Verden until Catholic affinity faded in the Reformation with that diocese remaining vacant since 1644.
- In 1197 two royal settlers found a Benedictine cloister in the near surrounding of the village. Due to the fertile soil and a partial participation in the saline of Lüneburg the wealth and population increase.
- In 1280 the prince-archbishop Giselbert of Bremen orders the city to be bordered by city walls and fortification buildings including 7 peels and 3 town gates.
- By 1328 the city's town hall is mentioned first in history and the city is granted full town privileges, modelled according to those of Hamburg. By now "Buxtehude" is self-governing advancing to a trading town.
- In 1485 the immensely wealthy "Master Halepaghen" as the cousin tutor of the burgomaster of Hamburg dies and donates his assets to the city for scholarships and charitable purposes.
- In 1542 the city council of Buxtehude adopted Lutheranism for its municipality.
- In 1600s the Hanseatic trade declines and cattle trade becomes majorly important. Besides Stade, Buxtehude is the only crossover over the Elbe river.
- In 1645 Buxtehude surrendered to the Swedish army and loses its independence. Trade and population recede dramatically.
- In 1648 the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen was transformed into the Duchy of Bremen, which was first ruled in personal union by the Swedish and from 1715 on by the Hanoveran Crown.
- 1769 the cloister is torn down due to the secularization.
- In 1823 the Duchy was abolished and its territory became part of the Stade Region.
- In 1837 the link road through the city reanimates business and trade.
- 1845 is dominated by industrial boom with a paperfactory being installed on the former cloister ground.
- In 1945 the population grows to 14,000. Much living space in Hamburg was bombed out and people flee to the suburbs and exurbs such as Buxtehude.
- In 1958 Buxtehude is decided to be in charge of reconstructing much of Hamburg after the war and thus is heavily funded with government money.
- Lower Saxony incorporates 9 neighboring villages into the town in 1972 changing the structure of Buxtehude and creating a cluster of more than 30,000 inhabitants.
- In 1983 the old part of town is pedestrianized.
- In 1985 town twinning with Blagnac (France) is undertaken.
- In 1990 Ribnitz-Damgarten in the former German Democratic Republic becomes the second sister city.
Read more about this topic: Buxtehude
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Bias, point of view, fury—are they ... so dangerous and must they be ironed out of history, the hills flattened and the contours leveled? The professors talk ... about passion and point of view in history as a Calvinist talks about sin in the bedroom.”
—Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897–1973)
“America is the only nation in history which, miraculously, has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization.”
—Attributed to Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929)
“A great proportion of the inhabitants of the Cape are always thus abroad about their teaming on some ocean highway or other, and the history of one of their ordinary trips would cast the Argonautic expedition into the shade.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)